Objects connected with the breastplate of the high priest, and
used as a kind of divine oracle. Since the days of the
Alexandrian translators of the Old Testament it has been
asserted that mean
"revelation and truth" (δήλωσις
καὶ
ἀλήθεια), or "lights
and perfections" (φωτισμοὶ
καὶ
τελεότητες);
the τελειότης
καὶ διδαχή of
Symmachus (Jerome, "perfectio et doctrina"; Field,
"Hexapla" on Deut. xxxiii. 8); and the
φωτισμοί
καὶ
τελειώσεις
of Aquila and Theodotion. The Vulgate has "doctrina
[after Symmachus; Old Latin, "ostensio" or "demonstratio"]
et veritas." There is, however, no foundation for such a
view in the Bible itself. Ex. xxviii. 13-30 describes the
high-priestly ephod and the breastplate with the Urim and
Thummim. It is called a "breastplate of judgment"
("ḥoshen ha-mishpaṭ"); it is four-square
and double; and the twelve stones were not put inside the
ḥoshen, but on the outside. It is related in Lev. viii.
7-8 that when, in compliance with the command in Ex. xxix.
1-37, Moses consecrated Aaron and his sons as priests,
"He [Moses] put upon him [Aaron] the coat, and girded him
with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the
ephod upon him, and he girded him with the cunningly woven
band [A. V. "curious girdle"] of the ephod, and
bound it unto him therewith. And he put the breastplate upon
him: and in the breastplate he put the Urim and the Thummim."
Deut. xxxiii. 8 (R. V.), in the blessing of Moses, reads:
"And of Levi he said: Thy Thummim and thy Urim are with
thy righteous one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, with whom
thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah" (see
Steuernagel, "Deuteronomium," p. 125, Göttingen,
1898; Bertholet, "Deuteronomium," p. 106, Freiburg,
1899; Driver, "Deuteronomy," in "International
Critical Commentary," p. 398, New York, 1895; Baudissin,
"Gesch. des Alttestamentlichen Priesterthums," p.
76). The most important passage is I Sam. xiv. 41, where
Wellhausen and Driver have corrected the text, on the basis of
the Septuagint, to read as follows: "And Saul said:
Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, why hast thou not answered thy
servant this day? If this iniquity be in me or in Jonathan my
son, Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, give Urim; but if it be in thy
people Israel, give Thummim. Then Jonathan and Saul were taken
by lot; and the people escaped" (Driver, "Notes on
the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel," p. 89, Oxford,
1890; Budde, "The Books of Samuel," in Polychrome
Bible, p. 63; H. P. Smith, "The Books of Samuel," p.
122; Kirkpatrick, "The First Book of Samuel," in
"The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,"
1891, p. 137).
I Sam. xxviii. 3-6 mentions three methods of divine
communication: (1) the dream-oracle, of which frequent mention
is made also in Assyrian and Babylonian literature; (2) the
oracle by means of the Urim (here, undoubtedly, an
abbreviation for "Urim and Thummim"); (3) the oracle
by the word of the Prophets, found among all Semitic nations.
The only other mention of actual consultation of
YHWH
by means of the Urim and Thummim found in the Old Testament is
in Num. xxvii. 21. Eleazar was then high priest, and Moses was
permitted by the Yahweh to address Him directly. But Joshua
and his successors could speak to the Yahweh only through the
mediation of the high priest and by means of the Urim and
Thummim. It is quite probable that the age of Ezra and
Nehemiah was no longer cognizant of the nature of the Urim and
Thummim (Ezra ii. 63; Neh. vii. 65; see also I Macc. iv. 46,
xiv. 41). Post-exilic Israel had neither the sacred
breastplate nor the Urim and Thummim. Ezra ii. 63 tacitly
contradicts the assertion of Josephus ("Ant." iii.
8, § 9, end) that the Urim and Thummim first failed in the
Maccabean era (B. Niese, "Flavii Josephi Opera," i.
202; see also Soṭah ix. 12; Tosef., Soṭah, xiii.
2; Yer. Ḳid. iv. 1; Ryle, "Ezra and Nehemiah,"
p. 32). Ecclus. (Sirach) xxxiii. 3 may possibly prove a
knowledge of the tradition concerning the use of the Urim and
Thummim; but it can not be inferred that answers were received
at that time by means of them (V. Ryssel, in Kautzsch, "Apokryphen,"
p. 394).
Answer "Yes" or "No."
The Urim and Thummim are implied, also, whereever in the
earlier history of Israel mention is made of asking counsel
of Yahweh by means of the ephod (Josh. ix. 14; Judges i.
1-2; xx. 18 [rejected as a later gloss from ib. i. 1 by
most commentators], 26-28; I Sam. x. 22; xiv. 3, 18, 36 et
seq.; xxii. 10, 13; xxiii. 2, 4, 6, 9-12; xxviii. 6; xxx.
7 et seq.; II Sam. ii. 1; v. 19, 23 et seq.; xxi.
1. On the nature of the ephod see G. F. Moore,
"Judges," 1895, pp. 380-399, where copious
references and the literature are given; idem,
"Ephod," in Cheyne and Black, "Encyc.
Bibl."; and especially T. C. Foote, "The
Ephod," in "Jour. Bib. Lit." [1902] xxi. 1-48).
In all cases except I Sam. x. 22 and II Sam. v. 23 et seq.,
the answer is either "Yes" or "No." It has
been suggested by Riehm and others that these two passages
have undergone editorial changes. After the death of David no
instance is mentioned in the Old Testament of consulting
Yahweh by means of the Urim and Thummim or the ephod. This
desuetude is undoubtedly occasioned by the growing influence
of the Old Testament prophecy.
The ancient, and most of the modern, explanations of these
mysterious instruments through which
YHWH
communicated His will to His chosen people identify them with
(a) stones in the high priest's breastplate, (b)
sacred dice, and (c) little images of Truth and Justice
such as are found round the neck of the mummy of an Egyptian
priest (see Muss-Arnolt, "The Urim and Thummim," in
"Am. Jour. Semit. Lang." July, 1900, pp. 199-204).
The "Tablets of Destiny" which occur in the Assyro-Babylonian
account of Creation and otherwise figure in Assyro-Babylonian
conceptions suggest the correct explanation of the Hebrew Urim
and Thummim. One of the functions ascribed to the Babylonian
seer was to deliver oracles and to consult the g-d, whose
answer was either "Yes" or "No." Quite
often the g-d sends to his people an "urtu," a
command to do, or not to do, something. "Urtu"
belongs to the same
stem from which is derived "ertu," the
"terminus technicus" for "oracle." The g-ds
speak ("tamu, utammu") to the priest the oracle
which they reveal; and the oracle is called "the
mysterious word, revelation." Since G-d "at sundry
times and in divers manners spake in time past," not only
unto the fathers by the Prophets, but to all mankind in ways
which it is now almost impossible to trace precisely, it is
quite possible that the mythological account of the Tablets of
Destiny and the Old Testament Urim and Thummim, both shaping
the destiny of king and nation, revert to the same
fountainhead and origin. Notwithstanding the fragmentary
account of Babylonian literature and the scanty report of Old
Testament writers, some points common to both may yet be
gathered.
Babylonian Accounts.
(1)
According to Ex. xxviii. 30 and Lev. viii. 8, the Urim and
Thummim rested within the breastplate, that is, on the breast
of the high priest; in the Babylonian account the Tablets of
Destiny rested on the breast of their possessor. Only so long
as they were resting on the breast of the g-d in the case of
the one nation, and on the breast of the high priest in that
of the other, were they efficacious.
(2)
In the Babylonian accounts, only those gods who, in some way,
were considered the messengers and mediators between the other
gods and mankind were the lawful possessors of the Tablets of
Destiny. In Israel the Urim and Thummim were entrusted by
YHWH
to Moses, and through him to the high priest as the
representative of
Yhwh
and as the mediator between Elohim and the nation to whose
decisions, through the Urim and Thummim, even kings bowed.
(3)
There is, to be sure, in the Babylonian records no statement
as to the exact number of the Tablets of Destiny. It is known
that there were more than one; it may not be too hazardous to
assume that there were only two, one lying on each breast: one
revealing (or prognosticating ?) good fortune; the other,
misfortune. The Old Testament accounts of the Urim and Thummim
indicate that there were only two objects (lots ?).
(4)
Marduk, after he had torn the Tablets of Destiny from the
breast of his dead foe, sealed them with his own seal. There
may be a reminiscence of this in Ex. xxviii. 21. The use of
twelve stones, one for each of the twelve tribes, in addition
to the two lots (of stone), is perhaps of some significance in
this connection.
(5)
Marduk, bearing on his breast the Tablets of Destiny, presided
at the annual assembly of the gods, where the fate was
determined and the lot was cast for king and nation. It is the
general opinion that the Urim and Thummim were consulted only
in cases where the safety of king or nation was concerned.
In Israel the development of a strict monotheism necessarily
modified the conception of the Urim and Thummim. No
description of them is found in the Old Testament; they are
mentioned as something familiar both to Moses and to the
people—an inheritance received from the time of their
ancestors. The very fact that the Old Testament assumes that
Moses and the people were acquainted with the nature of the
Urim and Thummim confirms the view that the latter were
naturally connected with the functions of the high priest as
the mediator between
YHWH
and His people.
Etymology of the Words.
The etymology of and ,
suggested by Zimmern and others, supports the explanation
given here. The so-called plural ending of the wo words
expresses the "pluralis intensivus," plurals only in
form, but not in meaning. "Urim" may be connected
not with = "curse,
put under the ban," as Schwally and others have held, but
with the Babylonian "u'uru," the infinitive of the
"pi'el" of "a'aru," from which are derived
also the nouns "urtu" = "command, order,
decision" (usually of the g-ds) and "tertu"
(originally with the same meaning). These words occur
frequently in Assyro-Babylonian literature in sentences
analogous in form to those in which "Urim and Thummim"
are used in the Old Testament. The plural
("fires") has no doubt had some influence in shaping
the analogous form =
"urtu." the
present writer connects with the Assyrian "tamu,"
pi'el "tummu," verbal forms also belonging to the
oracular language. "Urim and Thummim" correspond,
then, to the Babylonian "urtu" and "tamitu,"
the latter a synonym of "piristu" = "oracle,
oracular decision [of the gods]." That the original
meaning of the two words and their significance were known
even at the time when the Old Testament records, in which they
are mentioned, were written is exceedingly doubtful; that they
were not known either to the Greek translators or to the early
Masorites is practically certain.
Bibliography
:
In addition to works and articles mentioned in the body of the
article,
Buxtorf
, Historia Urim et Thummim
, in his Exercitationes
, pp.
267et seq., and in
Ugolini
, Thesaurus
,
vol. xii.
;
Spencer
, De Legibus Hebrœorum Ritualibus
,
1685
;
Ludwig
Diestel
, Gesch. des Alten Testamentes in der Christlichen Kirche
, Jena,
1869
;
idem, Urim
, in
Herzog-Haupt
, Real-Encyc.
xvi. 746et seq., revised for 2d ed.,
xvi. 226et seq., by
Kautzsch
;
Bähr
, Symbolik
,
ii. 134-141
;
W.
Robertson
Smith
, The Old Testament in the Jewish Church
, 2d ed., p.
292
, London,
1895
;
Baudissin
, Die Geschichte des Alttestamentlichen Priesterthums
Untersucht
,
1889
, pp.
26, 27, 140, 141
;
Benzinger
, Arch.
1894
, pp.
382, 407, 408
;
Winer
, B. R.
3d ed.,
ii. 643-648
;
Wittichen
, in
Schenkel
's Bibel-Lexikon
(
1869
),
ii. 403
;
Steiner
, ib. (
1875
)
v. 851-853
;
G.
Klaiber
, Das Priesterliche Orakel der Israeliten
, Stuttgart,
1865
;
Riehm
, Handwörterbuch
, 2d ed.,
i. 914-918
;
Stade
, Geschichte
, 2d ed.,
i. 156, 471-473, 505-506, 517-518
. Additional literature is found in
Knobel
, Der Prophetismus der Hebräer
,
i. 5
, No. 2;
Hancock
, The Urim and the Thummim
, in Old Testament Student
,
March, 1884
,
iii. 252-256
(is quite unsatisfactory);
Dosker
, The Urim and Thummim
, in Presbyterian and Reformed Review
,
Oct., 1892
, pp.
717-736
;and in
T.
Witton
Davies
, Magic, Divination, and Demonology
,
1898
. A very convenient summary is given by
Kirkpatrick
in The First Book of Samuel
, pp.
217, 218
, to which may be added the article Urim and Thummim
, in
Smith
, Dictionary of the Bible
,
iii. 1600-1606
, London,
1893
;
A.
R. S.
Kennedy
, Urim and Thummim
, in
Hastings
, Dict. Bible
,
iv. 835-841
, New York,
1902
;
and
Paul
Haupt
, Babylonian Elements in the Levitical Ritual
, in Jour. Bib. Lit.
1900
,
xix. 58, 72et seq.
E.
G.
H.
W.
M.-A.
Tradition is unanimous in stating that the use of the Urim and
Thummim ceased with the destruction of the First Temple, or,
in other words, with the death of the Older Prophets; and they
were among the five things lacking in the Second Temple (Soṭah
ix. 10 [= 48b]; Yoma 21b; Yer. Ḳid. 65b). Josephus
states ("Ant." iii. 8, § 9) that "this oracle
had been silent" for 200 years before his time, or from
the days
of John Hyrcanus. The teachers of the Talmud, however, if
their own statements may be believed, had never seen the Urim
and Thummim, and regarded them as the "great and holy
name of Yahweh" written on the breastplate of the high
priest (Targ. pseudo-Jonathan to Ex. xxviii. 30); and they
etymologize "Urim" as "those whose words give
light," while "Thummim" is explained as
"those whose words are fulfilled" (ib.; Yoma
73b; Yer. Yoma 44c).
Mode of Consultation.
The oracle was consulted in the following manner: The high
priest donned his eight garments, and the person for whom he
sought an answer stood facing him, while he himself turned
toward Elohim (i.e., the
Shekinah
). It was necessary that the question should be brief and that
it should be pronounced, but not aloud; while the answer was a
repetition of the query, either in the affirmative or in the
negative. Only one question might be asked at a time; if more
than one were put, the first alone received a reply. The
answer was given by the letters of the names of the tribes
which were engraved upon the high priest's breastplate (Yoma
73a, b; Yer. Yoma 44c; Sifre, Num. 141). If the question was
not distinctly worded, the reply might be misunderstood, as in
Judges xx. 18 et seq. (Sheb. 35b; Yoma 73b). A decision
by the oracle might be demanded only by the king, or by the
chief of the highest court, or by a prominent man within the
community, such as a general of the army, and it might be
sought only for the common weal (Yoma 7, end, 73a: "one
anointed for war"; Targ. pseudo-Jonathan to Ex. xxviii.
30: "in case of need"). According to Targ.
pseudo-Jonathan to Ex. xxviii., the breastplate was used to
proclaim victory in battle. It was necessary that the high
priest who questioned the oracle should be a man upon whom the
Shekinah rested (Yoma 73b).
The characteristic feature of the Shekinah was radiance; and
Josephus, who believed that Yahweh was present at every
sacrifice, even when offered by Gentiles, states that the
oracles were revealed through rays of light:
Relation to the Shekinah.
("
Ant.
"
iii. 8
, § 9,
Whiston
's transl.).
"But as to those stones, which we told you before, the
high priest bare on his shoulders . . . the one of them shined
out when Elohim was present at their sacrifices . . . bright
rays darting out thence; and being seen even by those that
were most remote; which splendor yet was not before natural to
the stone. . . . Yet will I mention what is still more
wonderful than this; for Elohim declared beforehand, by those
twelve stones which the high priest bare on his breast, and
which were inserted into his breastplate, when they should be
victorious in battle; for so great a splendor shone forth from
them before the army began to march, that all the people were
sensible of Yahweh being present for their assistance. Whence
it came to pass that those Greeks who had a veneration for our
laws, because they could not possibly contradict this, called
that breastplate the Oracle"
The Talmudic concept seems to have been identical with the
view of Josephus, holding that the reply of the Urim and
Thummim was conveyed by rays of light. Two scholars of the
third century, however, who had lost the vividness of the
earlier concept, gave the explanation that those stones of the
breastplate which contained the answer of the oracle either
stood out from the others or formed themselves into groups
(Yoma 73b).
The division of the country was made according to the Urim and
Thummim, since the high priest, "filled with the Holy
Spirit," proclaimed the tribe to which each division
should belong. After this, lots were drawn from two urns, one
containing the name of the tribe and the other that of the
territory, and these were found to harmonize with the high
priest's announcement (B. B. 122a; Sanh. 16a; comp. Yer. Yoma
41b, below). To enlarge the Holy City or the Temple court the
orders of the king, of a prophet, and of the Urim and Thummim
were necessary (Sheb. 2, 3, 16a; Yer. Sheb. 33d, below). In
Yer. Sanh. 19b the question is propounded why the Urim and
Thummim are needed when a prophet is present.
Bibliography
:
Winer
, B. R.
ii. 644-645
;
Hamburger
, R. B. T.
i. 1002-1004
;
Herzog-Plitt
, Real-Encyc.
xvi. 226-233
;
Hastings
, Dict. Bible
,
iv. 840-841
;
M.
Duschak
, Josephus Flavius und die Tradition
, pp.
5-7
, Vienna,
1864
.
W.
B.
L.
B.
[The names of Yahweh and YHWH were
inserted where they belonged by Hawke.]
Copyright 2002
JewishEncyclopedia.com. All rights reserved.
mean
"revelation and truth" (δήλωσις
καὶ
ἀλήθεια), or "lights
and perfections" (φωτισμοὶ
καὶ
τελεότητες);
the τελειότης
καὶ διδαχή of
Symmachus (Jerome, "perfectio et doctrina"; Field,
"Hexapla" on Deut. xxxiii. 8); and the
φωτισμοί
καὶ
τελειώσεις
of Aquila and Theodotion. The Vulgate has "doctrina
[after Symmachus; Old Latin, "ostensio" or "demonstratio"]
et veritas." There is, however, no foundation for such a
view in the Bible itself. Ex. xxviii. 13-30 describes the
high-priestly ephod and the breastplate with the Urim and
Thummim. It is called a "breastplate of judgment"
("ḥoshen ha-mishpaṭ"); it is four-square
and double; and the twelve stones were not put inside the
ḥoshen, but on the outside. It is related in Lev. viii.
7-8 that when, in compliance with the command in Ex. xxix.
1-37, Moses consecrated Aaron and his sons as priests,
"He [Moses] put upon him [Aaron] the coat, and girded him
with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the
ephod upon him, and he girded him with the cunningly woven
band [A. V. "curious girdle"] of the ephod, and
bound it unto him therewith. And he put the breastplate upon
him: and in the breastplate he put the Urim and the Thummim."
Deut. xxxiii. 8 (R. V.), in the blessing of Moses, reads:
"And of Levi he said: Thy Thummim and thy Urim are with
thy righteous one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, with whom
thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah" (see
Steuernagel, "Deuteronomium," p. 125, Göttingen,
1898; Bertholet, "Deuteronomium," p. 106, Freiburg,
1899; Driver, "Deuteronomy," in "International
Critical Commentary," p. 398, New York, 1895; Baudissin,
"Gesch. des Alttestamentlichen Priesterthums," p.
76). The most important passage is I Sam. xiv. 41, where
Wellhausen and Driver have corrected the text, on the basis of
the Septuagint, to read as follows: "And Saul said:
Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, why hast thou not answered thy
servant this day? If this iniquity be in me or in Jonathan my
son, Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, give Urim; but if it be in thy
people Israel, give Thummim. Then Jonathan and Saul were taken
by lot; and the people escaped" (Driver, "Notes on
the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel," p. 89, Oxford,
1890; Budde, "The Books of Samuel," in Polychrome
Bible, p. 63; H. P. Smith, "The Books of Samuel," p.
122; Kirkpatrick, "The First Book of Samuel," in
"The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,"
1891, p. 137).
and 
,
suggested by Zimmern and others, supports the explanation
given here. The so-called plural ending of the wo words
expresses the "pluralis intensivus," plurals only in
form, but not in meaning. "Urim" may be connected
not with 
= "curse,
put under the ban," as Schwally and others have held, but
with the Babylonian "u'uru," the infinitive of the
"pi'el" of "a'aru," from which are derived
also the nouns "urtu" = "command, order,
decision" (usually of the g-ds) and "tertu"
(originally with the same meaning). These words occur
frequently in Assyro-Babylonian literature in sentences
analogous in form to those in which "Urim and Thummim"
are used in the Old Testament. The plural 
("fires") has no doubt had some influence in shaping
the analogous form 
=
"urtu." 
the
present writer connects with the Assyrian "tamu,"
pi'el "tummu," verbal forms also belonging to the
oracular language. "Urim and Thummim" correspond,
then, to the Babylonian "urtu" and "tamitu,"
the latter a synonym of "piristu" = "oracle,
oracular decision [of the gods]." That the original
meaning of the two words and their significance were known
even at the time when the Old Testament records, in which they
are mentioned, were written is exceedingly doubtful; that they
were not known either to the Greek translators or to the early
Masorites is practically certain.